Flying

Parents–take heart. Gama Group has introduced an infant safety seat specifically for flying. The lightweight FAA-certified seat is designed to complement all business jet configurations and will also work in any class of airline seat.

Every ingredient in this dish–duck, blueberries and Indian wild rice–comes from local sources, said Kristen Wasyliszyn, owner and chef at Atiki’s Flight Catering. Wasyliszyn lightly rubs the duck with hazelnut oil for a subtle, nutty flavor and broasts it in high heat to render the outside crisp while the inside remains tender and moist. The blueberries are reduced slowly and the chef adds drippings from the broasting pan, along with a touch of cognac.

Years ago, I flew my small airplane to visit my sister. She was shooting photos at a three-day equestrian event at a friend’s private horse farm. When it came time for me to leave, she asked the host’s son if he could drive me back to the airport. When he said, “What time’s your flight?” I paused, smiled and replied, “Whenever I get there, I guess.

The last decade’s boom days for fractional shares and jet cards made traditional air charter seem almost old-fashioned–and unreliable, as the charter fleet was often busy meeting overflow demand from fractional and card programs. Then the economy tanked and the upfront and hourly costs of those programs rendered them less appealing than charter to many flyers. In the few years since, innovations such as one-way pricing and guaranteed access have made charter look even more attractive.

Airbus began airline deliveries of its A320 twinjet in 1988. Today, more than 5,000 are in service and another 2,000-plus have been ordered. U.S. carriers flying the model include Delta, US Airways, United and JetBlue. Odds are, you’ve already been on one. Compared with the original Boeing 737, which was designed in the early 1960s, the A320 has a wider and taller cabin and a slicker wing. It also features digital fly-by-wire controls.

Take a 35-year-old American helicopter design and farm out airframe production to the Czech Republic and the stabilator to Turkey. Add a new engine design from Canada and a sophisticated avionics system with key elements from France. Bring all this together for final assembly at a new facility in Pennsylvania. What could go wrong?
A lot, actually.

Perhaps you have access to a private jet through an owner you know. It seems like a great deal: the aircraft is available almost any time, you fly with the same crew the owner uses and you pay considerably less than standard charter rates.

The congressional logjam blocking long-term FAA funding in the U.S. appears to be broken. Perhaps the FAA can finally move ahead with the much-heralded “next generation” air-traffic-control program known as NextGen.

This year, Bombardier will launch one of the most ambitious flight-test programs in business aviation history. The Learjet 85 is scheduled to enter service next year and as many as five conforming aircraft could make their first flights in the coming months.